January 11, 2009 - January 17, 2009

January 17, 2009

As we drove to the game, i had two questions thrown at me with 12
year old pre-teen attitude: 1) I didn't know you liked sports teams?
and 2) why do you keep whistling that song? I was about 7 years old
back in Michigan when my grandpa whistled that same song on our way to
Cobo Arena. Unlike my daughter today, back then I knew exactly what it
meant...

brother bones

While
"that song" had been sung before (by anyone from Bing Crosby to Louis
Armstrong,) ol' Brother Bones taught us long ago that Georgia Brown was
sweet enough that you only had to whistle it Served Bones well as his
nickname back in the day, when he was a Long Beach CA shoeshine boy,
was "Whistling Sam" because he whistled while he worked. Since then,
the Harlem Globetrotters claimed Georgia as their mascot / theme song
and have brought the sweetness of Miss Brown to over 120 countries and
20,000 games. Oh, and they've won more than a couple of them too....

I bet my daughter a dollar (and i'd give her ten dollars if i lost)
that my team, the Globetrotters, would win. "You really don't know
about sports," she taunted back at me with a grin as she agreed to the
bet. I just whistled some more as we pulled into the San Jose Pavilion.

1968 program

By
the time I made it to my first game, the Globetrotters were well known
stars that everyone knew. Curly and team were all over the airwaves
when i was a kid, helping Scobby Doo and crew solve mysteries, getting
trapped on Gilligans Island, and showboating prime time in the "Harlem
Globetrotters Popcorn Machine" variety show (that had players like Fred
"Curly" Neal and "Geese" Ausbie singing, dancing and acting along stars
like Bill Cosby, Sally Struthers and Dom DeLuise.) In the 70's, you
could clearly identify a star by who they hung out with and the way
they dressed....

scooby doo

gilligans island

70's Ballers- Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine!

Tonight
at the game i got a chance to meet "Curly," as he was attending as a
special guest. Even got him to sign my daughters ball-- even though
she wondered why i wanted the old guy to sign it. (Jeez, kids these
days...)

chicago's savoy ballroom, 1927

first game as the "New York Globetrotters," 1927

The
Globetrotters didn't even come from Harlem. In reality they started in
Chicago playing at the Savoy Ballroom in 1927. The teams owner, Abe
Saperstein, first called them the New York Globetrotters because he
wanted them to seem as a world traveling team from the city. He then
went with Harlem Globetrotters so that everyone would know they were
coming to watch a black team (i guess not to disappoint rednecks who
wanted to come see a serious basketball game-- which i'm sure they
thought only white boys could play...... lol, im picturing a white boy
layup in my head.) After initial success locally, the Globetrotters
packed into Saberstein's old Ford Tin Lizzie and traveled the
country.... and soon the world.

germany, 1955

As
the game started in San Jose, my daughter thought she caught on and
thus just knew that the bet wasnt fair and the game was fake. I had
told her that the Globetrotters won the game my grandpa first brought
me to, and that's why i thought they might win this one too. Well, and
also because they've won over 22,000 games in 120+ countries over the
years-- with a win ratio exceeding 98%. Those poor Washington Generals
never have a chance.... Maybe it's time to replace that sneaky old
coach they have?

In the end, I won the bet....

We had a great time...

And the tradition of Georgia Brown continues. My daughter was whistling it as we got out of the car back at home.

January 11, 2009

New Years (especially this one) seemed like a good time to go on a
long walk (we went camping in the Santa Cruz Mountains,) kick some
cans, and shoot some bb's with the old Red Ryder. As i look at this
picture, I think of Stand by Me. Yep, just like in the movie, i was on
a journey to get shit figured out-- i guess you could call it sorting
out my New Years resolutions. And, just like the movie, we even
(really) found a body (kinda) out there on our journey...

2008 was a tougher year for me. Couple rounds of layoffs at work.
Some health problems that put me in the hospital. Struggled with some
demons. Our country is in a tough spot. I say FUCK 2008, and the best
way for me to fuck it is to shake things up differently for 2009...

OK, New Years resolutions may be lame to many-- but for questionable
nuts like myself, I actually need any opportunity I can get to hit
CTRL-ALT-DEL on myself. Part of my routine has to be shaking up my
routine, or else i get depressed, go stir crazy and feel like rinsing
my mouth out with a pistol. What can I say, my parents should have
just gotten me a Pepsi, like Mikey wanted in the song, because it
doesn't seem like those trips to the psychologist during my youth ever
worked. Don't worry though, I'll be ok-- I've always done pretty damn
good at figuring it out myself.

What better way to shake up life, than to shake up where you live?
I've had the pleasure of living in a gamete of places through the
years-- in the city like East Hollywood/Los Feliz, in Michigan rural
farm country, up in the mountains in Big Bear, and currently in suburbs
of San Jose. Right now, I'm sick of the suburbs. I'm sick of living in
my cookie cutter box of a house there. This house was our first home
purchase and, even so, there is really nothing about it that excites
me.... it's really just got no soul, brother. So, it can just kiss my
black ass goodbye.

With the economy fucked and common sense suggesting one save their
money to avoid potential disaster, I've decided to do the opposite and
spend it. Housing is cheaper now, i've always wanted an older house, and the
devil on my shoulder is telling me that i gotta move. Thus, we've been
working on buying a "new" house:

This baby is an un-restored 1890 built Queen Anne Victorian Cottage
in downtown San Jose. Right now it's uninhabitable and about
everything needs to be redone. That said, it has the best attribute to
find in a project-- it's neat and nobody has fucked with it, so it's a
mostly original lost soul (bank repo) that i think is a good match for
us. The wheeling and dealing is done, offer accepted and i'm in
escrow. If this beast isn't haunted, I surely will be after working
all nighters fixing it up. I'm stoked about it.

In addition to how and where you live, I also like shaking up the
"how you get there" part... During some time off recently, I also
finished up some rides that are slightly different than the cars i
normally work on:

END OF YEAR PROJECT #1: My wife wanted "an old bike" for Christmas.
After some hunting, i found a good starter that needed a bit of work
that i got done-- it's a 1948 BF Goodrich Schwinn ladies cruiser
(Schwinn invented the fat tire cruiser in the 30's and 1948 was the
same year that the founder, Ignaz Schwinn, died:)

Yeah, i know that i've got the wrong era seat on it, but someday
i'll find one that matches right. And no, i'm not that gay-- it's a
coincidence that the colors match the new house project.

END OF YEAR PROJECT #2- My daughter had been begging me all year to
"fix the scooter" because she loves for me to take her out on rides w/
it. Being that the old motor died a long painful death, i pulled it
and put in a brand new LML 150 engine so that i won't have mess with it
much-- kinda like slapping a crate motor in a Chevy. Also put on some
whitewalls, a white faced gauge, rebuilt the brakes and redid all the
wiring & cables. Now it rides like new and hauls ass compared to
before:

The above resolutions demonstrate the best two ways to run away from my problems:

1) Run from them like you're trying to ditch the cops. Run fast,
hop some walls and change up direction quite a bit. Move from what's
comfortable and routine-- to a new, better hideout.

2) Build car, motorcycle, scooter or bike type projects and just
haul ass, leaving the problems in the proverbial rear view mirror (or
lack thereof because mirrors don't help you go fast, so they should be
taken off.)

Fight or flight, baby. Yep, many times i take the latter and run from my problems that i don't think i can't beat in a fight.